The CHP has also slammed the government for committing a “civilian coup” through a massive crackdown following a failed 2016 coup attempt against the government. More than 50,000 people were arrested and another 110,000 or so were dismissed from their public posts for alleged links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Erdogan accuses of masterminding the coup. Gulen denies involvement and the crackdown soon grew wider to include opposition lawmakers, journalists, activists and other dissenting voices. The government says the measures were necessary to combat terror.
Among those jailed is the HDP’s candidate Demirtas, who was arrested in November 2016 pending trial on terror charges for alleged links to outlawed Kurdish militants. Eight other HDP lawmakers and nearly 4,700 HDP administrators and activist are imprisoned.
The HDP announced its nomination of Demirtas Friday simultaneously in Istanbul and Diyarbakir, the predominantly Kurdish southeastern province. Demirtas accepted the nomination with a letter from his prison in western Turkey, saying he was a “political hostage.” He called on supporters to “be my hand, my arm, my voice, my breath.”
The former human rights lawyer ran against Erdogan in Turkey’s first direct presidential election in 2014, garnering 9.7 percent of votes. He and his co-leader Figen Yuksekdag — also jailed — led the left-leaning party to parliament in two general elections during 2015.
It’s unclear if Turkey’s electoral board will approve Demirtas’s candidacy. There have been no guilty verdicts in the numerous ongoing cases against him and he remains a parliamentarian, theoretically eligible to run.
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